


Have You Ever Wished For An Endless Night?

by Tea__Bee



Series: Cuddle Prompts [10]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Dancing, Fireworks, First Kiss, Hupperdook, M/M, Mollymauk in a Skirt, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 09:20:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea__Bee/pseuds/Tea__Bee
Summary: Prompt # 11: With A First KissThe gang arrives in Hupperdook.Title from Glitter In The Air by Pink





	Have You Ever Wished For An Endless Night?

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS NOT A DRILL

As The Mighty Nein walked into The Blushing Tankard, following Rissa, Caleb found his eyes wandering to Molly again. Countless times over the two weeks since that night he'd told Molly about the stars, he'd been gravitating to him, more than he had before. He'd gravitated toward Molly often in the last couple months, but in the last two weeks it was almost a constant orbit. He always had an idea of where in the room Molly was, even if he couldn't actually see him at that moment. If Molly's skin brushed his, he felt the warmth and almost a buzz there for much longer than the physical contact actually lasted. There was an air between them, this unspoken agreement, Molly giving him space and time to sort his feelings out properly, but still there, just  _right_   _ there  in front of him .  _

From the  moment he'd known Molly felt the same, and that he understood that Caleb might need time, and he didn't know how long, the moment Molly had said he could be patient, Caleb had suddenly been  _ so  _ certain. He wanted to be  _ with  _ Molly, wanted to be able to lean into him when they sat next to each other, hold his hand, to  _ kiss  _ him,  _ Gods _ , he wanted it all. It was like just knowing Molly would give him the time was enough.

But now he didn't know how to tell Molly that. He felt properly silly, being so worried in the first place that he'd built this up so much, thinking he needed to take it slow. It had been so long since he'd felt anything like this, though he wasn't truly sure he  _ had _ felt anything like this before, that he'd thought he'd need time. And Molly had just… understood, was completely willing to be patient, to wait for him, and now Caleb needed to find a way to tell him that it had been completely unnecessary. He wanted this, and he wanted it now. He was ready. 

And now, two weeks after this realization, they had arrived in Hupperdook, much to Beau's excitement, and they were standing in a tavern filled with voices, the sound of a violinist tuning their instrument and warming up, and Caleb was watching Molly walk up to the bar with Beau to get drinks. Molly turned back, glancing around for Caleb, catching his eye immediately and smiling. It seemed Molly gravitated to him, too, and that was very comforting. He smiled back at Molly and nodded, following after Jester as she spotted a piano and began to play clunkily. 

Caleb slipped a tip onto the piano, “For the lady,” as the pianist came over and started giving Jester a bit of grief over playing his piano without permission. She jumped up and planted a kiss on his cheek, causing him to grin widely. He was feeling good, tonight. Relaxed. Content. Jester took his hand and pulled him over to a table Nott and Rissa had secured for them. 

Molly turned from the bar, a warm buzzing in his chest after his first drink, and watched Jester kiss Caleb on his freckled cheek. Expecting him to shy away, Molly was pleasantly surprised to see a grin spread across the man's face. He was making good progress, opening up to the group. Molly was proud. He'd found himself watching Caleb more closely as of late, waiting for some kind of sign that the man was ready, being almost painfully patient. He'd wait, he had said he would, and he could absolutely do it, but the waiting was nearly killing him. Seeing Caleb look so content and relaxed here, before he had even started drinking, was like a miracle. Molly wanted to reach for him, pull him close and just hold him. He wanted so many things, but the thing he wanted most was just to be able to  _ touch _ him, casually, whenever he wanted. Gods, he was falling deep and nothing had even truly started. He sighed, walking over to the table where the rest were gathered, jingling the four sets of room keys he and Beau had gotten for the group. Just as he sat next to Caleb at the table, Jester pulled him back up and whispered in his ear.

Caleb felt Molly sit next to him, but felt the loss more when he was immediately pulled from his seat. He watched in confusion as Jester took one of the room keys from Molly, pulling him upstairs along with Nott, Yasha and their small bird friend Kiri. They all ran off, most of them looking excited, and Caleb looked back at Beau, Fjord, and Rissa, “She must have wanted some private rehearsal time for that dance she and Nott were concocting?” He shrugged, trying to hide his disappointment, and took a sip of the drink Molly had brought to the table for him.

…

“Okay, okay, okay, I have some  _ things _ for everyone!” Jester said, clapping her hands excitedly as she threw her bag onto the bed. Nott hovered by the door, a bit nervous, while Yasha, with Kiri on her shoulders, sat on the corner of the bed. Molly strode to the mirror next to the wash basin and straightened his jewelry. “Hold on, Molly, you might have to do that again when we're all done, so just wait, okay?”

Molly turned to face her, wary. “Ookay?” He echoed, moving to sit next to Yasha while Jester rifled through her bag, throwing packages onto the floor next to her feet. 

Satisfied she had everything out of the bag, she pounced on the packages, handing a couple to Molly, one to Nott, a small one to Yasha, and keeping a few for herself. “Okay! I've gotten us all some  _ party  _ things!” She unwrapped a small, midnight blue dress and handed it up to Kiri, then unwrapped her own while everyone just sort of stared at her in disbelief. 

“Wh-when did you even have  _ time _ for this?” Yasha asked as Jester pulled a pink dress from her own package that was covered in little blue flowers at the hem. Yasha opened hers, revealing several dried flowers, and a braid of ribbons with the same flowers interwoven that could clip into her hair. “Oh, Jester, they're very beautiful.. But, how? And when?”

“I have my ways!” Jester giggled, pulling Kiri off of Yasha's shoulders and behind a changing screen with her. 

Molly peeked into the packages on his lap, catching a glimpse of deep burgundy velvet and sighing happily and stroking the soft fabric. “Jester, you really didn't have to do this.” 

“Yes I _ did _ ! They are perfect and you should have party clothes!” She spun out from behind the screen, holding Kiri up so both of their dresses twirled with the movement, and looked at Nott. “Yasha, I know you’re not one for a crowd, so I was wondering if you’d stay up here and watch Kiri?” Yasha nodded, smiling at Jester and stroking the braid of ribbons and flowers lightly. “And Nott, I went a little more simple with yours, I know you don't like to stand out too much, but you still should have nice things!”

Molly glanced at Nott, realizing she'd been very quiet since they'd gotten their packages tossed at them. She was staring into her package with wide, shining eyes. “ _ Jester _ ,” she whispered. Pulling the cloth from the paper it was wrapped in, Nott revealed what looked to be a dark green, nearly black sleeveless top that flared slightly at the bottom, paired with soft black leggings. They would pair fine with her current cloak, giving her some anonymity, while being much nicer and better quality than what she wore now. She hugged them to her chest with a smile. 

Molly finally pulled his new outfit all the way out of the packaging, and found that the velvet wasn't the only fabric involved. “Oohh, I'm gonna need to change into this  _ immediately _ .” He rushed past Jester, planting a kiss on her forehead as he passed. 

When he finally emerged, he went straight to the mirror, smoothing his hands over the soft velvet and wiggling his hips to rustle the fabric.  _ Oh, just wait until Caleb sees this _ , he thought, wondering how close in color Caleb's blush could get to the burgundy velvet. 

“Oh, Molly,” Yasha sighed, finishing attaching the braid to her hair and moving to stand next to him. “You're going to make the poor man pass out.” 

He looked into her smiling eyes in the mirror and giggled. “Oh, I hope it's not  _ that _ bad, I want to see if I can get him to dance with me.” He turned to look at Nott, holding his arms out, “What do you think, Nott?”

Nott looked up from where she was clasping her cloak at her neck over her new outfit, and grinned, “Oh, I don't know, he's not one for dancing in public, but you might just have him with that.” She narrowed her eyes briefly, and he nodded, understanding her unspoken warning.

Jester had set Kiri down to twirl on her own, so now she pranced over to him, holding a final package. “Here,” she murmured, pulling something out gingerly. “One final touch,” and she showed him a flower crown woven with deep blue and burgundy flowers. He smiled, unbelievably fond, and bowed his head, letting her place it on his curls. Finished, he stood straight and twirled to show off the completed outfit, eliciting claps from everyone in the room. Jester scooped up Nott and twirled her as well, and soon they were all laughing and smiling. Hupperdook was turning out to be a lot of fun already. 

… 

Caleb was laughing at something Beau had said when he saw Fjord's eyes slide toward the stairs and go wide. He turned to look and saw Jester skipping down the stairs in a pink dress, flushed with excitement and laughing with Nott, who was sat atop her shoulders. Nott was wearing a halfling disguise and what looked to be new clothing under her cloak. He assumed Jester had provided the clothes for her, and made a mental note to thank her. 

Then Molly came down behind them, and Caleb felt his heart stutter. 

He was laughing, his head tilted back, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and his fangs flashing. He held a hand to the flower crown atop his bouncing curls to keep it from falling as he bounced down the stairs after the girls. The layered ruffles on the sleeves of his apparently new blouse fluttered as he moved, and the glow from the tavern's lanterns shown through the sheer fabric across his chest, showing off his tattoos behind the small embroidered flowers that were dotted across it. High on his waist, attached to thick suspender straps, was a dark red, flared velvet skirt that rippled across his legs as he walked across the floor, with a black crinoline peeking out from under it that seemed to change colors in the light, flashing iridescent blues and greens just at the tops of his boots. Caleb flicked his eyes back up to his face, letting out a gasp when he found Molly's eyes on his, a tentative smile on his face.

“What do you think?” Molly asked, tugging at one of the sleeves a little nervously. 

Caleb couldn't believe that  _ Molly _ was the one who looked nervous under  _ his _ gaze. He swallowed past the lump in his throat, “Y-you look…” he laughed incredulously. “You are incredible, Mollymauk."

Molly smiled brilliantly, sitting next to Caleb as Jester and Nott finished showing off their new outfits for the others. Caleb balled his hands into fists under the table, wanting desperately to touch Molly, but unable to gather the courage. He started to reach out, but pulled his hand back with a jump as the music swelled suddenly, and dancers seemed to appear from out of nowhere. 

They swirled and rainbow colored ribbons flew, color everywhere, but the world might as well have been black and white for Caleb. For him, the only colors standing out were Molly's, his red eyes aglow in the lantern light as he watched the spinning dancers, his purple hands clapped with the music, making the cream sleeves of his blouse flutter, his foot tapped and made his underskirt flash vibrant green, then blue as it bounced under the deep burgundy velvet. 

Molly flashed a smile at Caleb as the dance ended around them, and Caleb ducked his head, blushing furiously. He didn't get quite dark enough to match Molly's skirt, much to Molly's chagrin, but the night was young. 

“ _ Cay-leb, _ you have to dance with us,” Jester said, pulling at his hands and pulling his attention from Molly. “We left Kiri up with Yasha so we could party  _ all night _ , so we are short a dancer! I know you can dance, Caleb, you have to dance with us!” Nott shook her head from her spot behind Jester and held back her laughter. 

“No, Jester,  _ nein _ , I do not want to do that. Go get Beau, maybe, and she can be your third,” Caleb shook his head and hid behind his hair shyly. He pulled his hands back as Jester sighed and ran off after Beau's retreating form, Nott trailing behind her. 

Rissa piped up from the corner, “It's getting sort of crowded in here, and we have some time before The Hour Of Honor, do you guys want me to show you around some more, see the fireworks?”

Molly perked up, “Fireworks? Hells, yes!” He jumped from his seat to follow Fjord and Rissa, stopping to hold out a hand for Caleb. “Come on, darling, I'll protect you from Jester, let's go see this party town in action.”

Caleb looked up, biting his lip and staring at Molly's outstretched hand for a moment. Finally, he gathered his courage and reached out, taking Molly's hand in his and allowing himself to be pulled from his chair and out into the night. 

…

The music from inside The Blushing Tankard and the music outside in the town clashed for only a moment before the door swung closed again behind Caleb and Molly. They watched as Beau, Jester, and Nott went off to find trouble, and Fjord and Rissa followed a bit behind, but as they looked at each other, they both realized they were still holding hands as they stood on the street in the cool night air. 

“Molly, I-” Caleb started, deciding to go for it.

A loud  _ boom _ echoed in the night, reverberating through their chests as the sky lit up. Molly immediately looked up, watching the lights burst above them, colors washing over his upturned face, and Caleb saw him smile. Suddenly, he was impossibly more beautiful, his eyes flashing as the fireworks projected shapes and colors into the sky and onto his wide eyes. The lights stuttered across his skin like lightning, sharpening his lines and making him stand out starkly for flashes, before letting the street lanterns soften him again. He was… so, so beautiful. Caleb couldn't seem to get his brain, brilliant as it was, to come up with any other word to describe Molly. 

Caleb felt a warmth building in his chest, radiating through him as it bolstered his courage. Tonight. He would tell Molly he was ready, tonight, with music, and lights, and colors, and excitement surrounding them. 

Molly turned to Caleb, and found the man already looking at him. He felt like his grin was going to split his face. “Caleb, will you… I know you told Jester you didn't want to, but, I was wondering if you'd dance with me?” He spoke quickly, worried he was asking for too much.

“I did say I wouldn't dance,  _ ja _ ,” Caleb paused, a glimmer in his eye that had nothing to do with the light from the fireworks. “I said I wouldn't dance with  _ Jester _ . I would love to dance with  _ you _ , Mollymauk.”

Molly let out a breath, laughing gladly, and pulled Caleb into the crowd of dancers. They tried to duplicate the steps, but they were both too swept up in the other to really bother. Feet were stepped on, arms tangled, at one point Molly's jewelry got caught in Caleb's hair, and they were laughing too hard to untangle it for a long while, only succeeding in making it worse before they finally got it out.

Eventually, they gave up, retreating to the edge of the throng of people and pulling each other close, swaying slowly, completely off beat with the lively tune.

“I do not think this is the right kind of song for slow dancing, Mollymauk,” Caleb chuckled, wrapping his arms around Molly's shoulders.

“I don't know that I really care, Caleb,” Molly murmured back, his arms snaking around Caleb's waist until they were nearly chest to chest, their foreheads touching and their breath mingling. 

“ _ Nein _ , neither do I,” Caleb whispered, looking down for a moment and blushing to the tips of his ears. He breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth, and leaned in, touching his lips to Molly's.

Molly jumped like he'd been shocked, pulling back. His eyes went wide as Caleb pulled his hands away in reaction. “ _No, no, no, wait_ , I'm sorry, you just surprised me!” He rushed the words out as he pulled Caleb back, brushing a thumb across his jaw and dipping down to kiss him, feeling Caleb's hands wringing at his sides for a moment before one bunched his skirt at his hip and one flew up to curl in his hair, pulling him closer as they melted together.

Molly's hands gripped Caleb's hips, massaging slow circles into his hip bones, drawing a soft whimper from him. Molly smiles into the kiss, one of his fangs scratching Caleb's lip, making Caleb press more firmly into him, pulling on his curls, drawing a soft moan from Molly at the sensation. Caleb ran his tongue along Molly's bottom lip, and gasped when Molly responded by opening his mouth to tangle their tongues together. Caleb shuddered, goosebumps spreading across his arms, and pulled back, panting, to look in Molly's eyes. Molly brushed Caleb's hair out of his face, cupping his chin and smiling softly at him. 

“Caleb, I…” Molly chuckled, leaning down to nuzzled into Caleb's neck. 

“ _ Was _ ?” Caleb asked, turning to kiss Molly's temple. “What is it, Molly?”

Molly mumbled into his collarbone, “I'm just… so,  _ so  _ happy right now.” 

Caleb brought his arms around Molly's neck again, pulling him into a warm hug, laughing in disbelief. “ _ Ja _ , you know, so am I.”

They stood there, surrounded by laughter and dancing, holding each other in the chilly night air, just so, unbelievably happy to be together.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I'd call that cuddling, but... They KISSED okay?
> 
> THEY KISSED
> 
> Scream with me on Tumblr(@mollymauk-tea-bee) and/or in the comments!!!!
> 
> J


End file.
